The Host

Trailer (QuickTime Video) for The Host - opening in March.

Portraits of Scientists: Increase Lapham's Cartes-de-visites Collection

Moses Strong. "...Carte-de-visite portrait of Moses Strong, a Wisconsin archeologist who served as Increase Lapham's assistant. His most important article was titled, 'Prehistoric Mounds of Grant County, Wis.'" From Portraits of Scientists: Increase Lapham's Cartes-de-visites Collection. "...A self-educated engineer and naturalist, Increase Lapham was Wisconsin's first scientist and one of the state's foremost citizens. He wrote the first book published in Wisconsin; made the first accurate map of the state; investigated Wisconsin's effigy mounds, native trees and grasses, climactic patterns, and geology; and helped found many of the schools, colleges and other cultural institutions, including the Wisconsin Historical Society, that still enrich the state today. He also kept in-touch with many of the leading geologists, botanists, and other scientists and artists of his day, amassing an album of photographs to visually complement his extensive personal correspondences. Lapham's album of portraits, 93 in all, is the feature gallery this month from Wisconsin Historical Images, the Society's online image database."

Rayguns (Intergalactic Self-Defense Mechanisms)

Lockwasher... Rayguns (Intergalactic Self-Defense Mechanisms). "... I started putting these intergalactic self-defense mechanisms (ray guns) together after being totally inspired by Clayton Bailey, artist/gunsmith. I also draw inspiration from old 50's and 60's space movies/TV/toys...anything retro cool! I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I did creating them." From Lockwasher's Photos at Flickr. More at Lockwasher Design.

12 Rare Books of the Avant Garde, 1913-1923

12 Rare Books of the Avant Garde, 1913-1923 at Howard Schickler Fine Art in New York, NY.

Tongue-Tied Jill

Charlie Feathers... Tongue-Tied Jill (.mp3 audio 01:54).

Ramón Caamaño: Retratos da Costa da Morte

Ramón Caamaño: Retratos da Costa da Morte. "...Ramón Caamaño nace en 1908 en Muxía e iníciase na fotografía na década dos vinte, desenvolvendo o seu labor fotográfico nas diferentes vilas e aldeas da Costa da Morte.
A súa fotografía, como a dos demais fotógrafos rurais, caracterízase por unha total austeridade, como pon de manifesto o chan de terra dos seus retratos, cuberto ás veces por unha farrapeira, combinado con diferentes fondos que varían durante os vinte anos que abrangue este libro. Así comeza cun telón que era o resultado de unir tres panos e posteriormente usa outros que foi mercando e nos que se reproducen ambientes burgueses como o interior ou o exterior de pazos, alternando, nos anos corenta, con colchas que cumprían a mesma función." (es)

Bondage Keitai Straps

Bondage Keitai Straps for trendy cell phones by Hirotsugu Itsuji of Kitanya Design Factory. I like the 'Pretty Nurse' (6A-001). (jp) Via F*cked Gaijin.

Erase You

ESG... Erase You (1991, Pow Wow Records PW 461 .mp3 audio 04:08).

Riswold Amalgamated

Jim Riswold... Göring's Lunch. From Riswold Amalgamated - works by Jim Riswold. Also... La Chaise Chairman Mao (2006, color digital print from Chairs of Chairman Mao series of 57). From Jim Riswold at Augen Gallery in Portland, OR.

Time Exposure: Early Photographically Illustrated Books

Time Exposure: Early Photographically Illustrated Books. "...Recognised by the publishing industry as 'the most marvellous inventions of modern times,' original photographs began to appear in books by the mid-nineteenth century. Such books were expensive and published for an exclusive market. However, once scientific and technical developments had improved the quality and permanence of photographic images and production costs were lowered photographs became more widely used in books for the mass market. Handmade photographic prints continued to enhance book and periodicals until the late nineteenth century. At that time, various photomechanical processes were introduced that made it possible to transfer an original photograph to a printing block, from which an image could be printed directly on to the actual page of the book, just like the text."

Louise Brooks and the "New Woman" in Weimar Cinema

Louise Brooks and the "New Woman" in Weimar Cinema at the ICP. "...The American silent-film actress Louise Brooks (1906-1985) is one of the great female icons in the history of the cinema. Although she starred in over thirty films, Brooks is best known for the role of Lulu in the classic German film Pandora's Box (1929), directed by G.W. Pabst. As played by Brooks, Lulu was a jazz-age beauty wearing high-fashion clothes and a severe black bob. She embodied the ideal of the Weimar-era 'New Woman,' a social role that connoted political equality, free-spiritedness, and gender ambiguity. Drawing on the vast Louise Brooks archive at the George Eastman House, this exhibition will celebrate the hundredth anniversary of her birth."

Bionic Man

The Fabulous Poodles... Bionic Man (.mp3 audio 04:25). From the album Think Pink (1979, Epic 36256).

Ruas de São Paulo: A Survey of Brazilian Street Art from São Paulo

Ruas de São Paulo: A Survey of Brazilian Street Art from São Paulo
Presented in association with Choque Cultural Gallery, February 17 - March 17, 2007 at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York, NY. "...Ruas de São Paulo captures the changing Brazilian urban landscape, raw and uninhibited graffiti scene, and is a snapshot of a thriving movement stemming from a rich political and poetic history. A city destroyed by pichação (markings originating from inner-city, impoverished neighborhoods), these young, innovative Brazilian muralists are now transforming, and beautifying, the city of São Paulo. The result is a hybrid of graffiti and mural art, a cultural reflection of contemporary São Paulo. Viewers can observe the influence São Paulo has had on each artist through their individual style, which combines a distinctly Brazilian aesthetic with talent, innovation, and imagination. Each of the eight artists will present more than a dozen individual works, including acrylic and spray-painting on wood, canvas, paper and found objects."

Door-To-Door Maniac

Door-To-Door Maniac (Flash Video 02:44). Johnny Cash terrorizes some poor housewife in this clip from Door-To-Door Maniac (aka Five Minutes to Live, 1961, directed by Bill Karn).

Thomas Allen: New Releases

Thomas Allen: New Releases, Jan 11 - Mar 3, 2007 at Foley Gallery in New York, NY. "...Inspired by a View-Master and 'pop-up' books as a child, Allen became interested in recreating these three-dimensional experiences by using old books and pulp fiction paperbacks as still life subjects. Allen gently cuts around the shape of his figures, physically releasing them from their two dimensional surface. They are brought to life from their pages and covers with detailed lighting and a thin focus. Pulled and positioned, their intended drama comes to life. In his newest body of work, Allen explores more detailed narratives involving love triangles and relationships accentuated with moments of voyeurism, homoeroticism, and unrequited love." Also... More Works by Thomas Allen at Foley Gallery.

Girlfriend

The Modern Lovers... Girlfriend (.mp3 audio 03:55). From The Modern Lovers (1976, Beserkley Records BZ 0050).

Rocking Jalopy

The Alabama Kid... Rocking Jalopy (1965, Varsity 83 .mp3 audio 01:28). Found on the compilation Desperate Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 2 (Flame 002, England, 1987). Thank you DMc and Twilightzone.

Expectations of Adolescence

Lens Culture... Expectations of Adolescence - photographs by Blake Fitch. "...Blake Fitch’s 'Expectations of Adolescence' is a remarkable collection of photographs for many reasons. It documents, over the course of ten years, the growing-up of two cousins less than a year apart in age, seen only during large family reunions in the same two timeless settings of their grandparents’ ornately decorated New England home or the family’s summer place on the water. We do not know these two young women outside of these family meetings during Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and summer holidays. But we can watch them interact, grow and change, relax (or feel anxiety) in these settings outside day-to-day life, and in moments of introspection. We see them as they grow up, become more and more themselves, chafing perhaps at the obligations implied by required attendance in surroundings of upper-crust comfort that remain unchanged and constant."

Trailer for Hearts & Minds

Trailer for Hearts & Minds (QuickTime 1974, directed by Peter Davis). "...Utilizing a variety of sources, including archival newsreel clips along with interviews and footage of the conflict shot by Davis’s own film crew in Vietnam, America and Paris, the film presents a powerful, thought-provoking and deeply moving examination of the effects of the Vietnam War on the nations engaged in the conflict, and exposes many of the truths behind America’s involvement. Together with cinematographer Richard Pearce (cinematographer on Woodstock and Rust Never Sleeps and director of Leap Of Faith; No Mercy; Country) and Oscar nominated and BAFTA Award winning editor Lynzee Klingman (Ali; Man On The Moon; One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest), Davis has constructed, from over 200 hours of footage, a remarkable documentary that features some of the most recognizable and iconic imagery from the Vietnam War and the era in which it took place, much of which had never been seen by the public prior to the film’s release. From Hearts & Minds - 30th Anniversary Release.

More Than This

Bill Murray... More Than This (.mp3 audio 01:38). Tortured Roxy Music from the film Lost In Translation.

Works by Jane Hammond

Jane Hammond... Chai Wan (2005, selenium toned silver gelatin prints). From Works by Jane Hammond - paintings, unique works on paper, photography, and more.

Sean McGaughey: There Are No Wrong Answers

Sean McGaughey: There Are No Wrong Answers at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City, CA.

Home of the Double Headed Eagle

Home of the Double Headed Eagle - a film by Brian Graves and Ali Colleen Neff (2006, 15 minutes, Color). "...In 2004, Ali Colleen Neff and photographer Tim Gordon made a wrong turn off Highway 61 near Vicksburg. They soon encountered The Home of the Double-Headed Eagle, a kaleidoscopic work of visionary architecture created by the Reverend H. D. Dennis and his wife, Margaret Dennis. The couple, now in their nineties, has been inviting visitors to explore their creation and to hear the non-denominational gospel since 1980, when Reverend began to build the work from the frame of Margaret’s little country store. On a number of subsequent visits, Neff, a student in the UNC Folklore M. A. Curriculum, gathered the couples’ life stories, which do much to explain the transcendence and global symbolism imbued in the Dennis’ work. She returned in 2006 with documentarian Brian Graves of the UNC Communications Studies Ph.D. program to create this short doc. This piece, filmed on a single day, focuses on the context surrounding the visionary architecture of the Reverend H. D. and Margaret Dennis."

Who Knows

The Slackers... Who Knows (.mp3 audio 04:26).

Trailer for Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom

Trailer for Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom (QuickTime Video, Japanese title: Kyoufu Joshi Koukou Boryoku Rinchi Kyoushitsu, 1973 Toei Company Ltd).

Unica Zürn

Dessins d'Unica Zürn - drawings by Unica Zürn. Also... Works by Unica Zürn at Ubu Gallery in New York City and The Chimeras of Unica Zurn, a review of the Ubu Gallery exhibition by Valery Oisteanu. "...During the 1960s, when she was well into middle age, the German painter and writer Unica Zürn (1916-1970) made a series of psychologically intense line drawings that combine Surrealist automatism with the mania of Outsider Art and a certain residue of contemporary experiments in psychedelic drugs. Erotic and trancelike, the works depict fantastic chimeras, bizarre creatures with double faces that represent multiplications of herself, either repeated across the page or set in intricate dream landscapes of mystic animals and otherworldly plant forms."

The Feather Book of Dionisio Minaggio

The Feather Book of Dionisio Minaggio. "...'Dionisio Minaggio Giardinero di Sa Ea Gv. Obnerator del Stato di Milano. Inventor et Feccit l'Ano del 1618." This inscription on the title page can be translated as: "Dionisio Minaggio, Gardener-in-Chief to the Governor of the State of Milan. Creator and Maker in the year 1618.'
What he had made was a book of designs of birds and human figures, each picture composed entirely of birds' feathers. The 112 birds consist of the feathers, beaks and claws laid down in true-to-life fashion. The other 44 figures are much more elaborate -- natural, undyed feathers arranged to show hunters (some on horseback), musicians, a knife-grinder, dentist and a set of actors from the Commedia del Arte. Actually, there are a few non-bird elements in 3 of the pictures -- dried oak leaves in picture 147, a snake skin draped in a tree (no. 66) and, in number 34, the bird is eating a small chameleon, part of whose skin can still be seen.
The 156 drawings were originally bound in a large leather-bound book but were taken apart and individually mounted behind glass shortly after McGill acquired the set in 1923 as part of the Blacker-Wood Library of Biology collection."

Twist With The Docteur

Ry-Co Jazz... Twist With The Docteur (RealAudio 02:59). Recorded in 1962.

Works by Philip Taaffe

Works by Philip Taaffe. "...Philip Taaffe was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1955, and studied at the Cooper Union in New York. His first solo exhibition was in New York in 1982. He has traveled widely in the Middle East, India, South America, and Morocco, where he collaborated with Mohammed Mrabet on the book Chocolate Creams and Dollars, translated by Paul Bowles (Inanout Press, New York: 1993). Taaffe lived and worked in Naples from 1988-91. He has been included in numerous museum exhibitions, including the Carnegie International, two Sydney Biennials, and three Whitney Biennials. In 1990 his work was the subject of an extensive critical study in Parkett no. 26 (Zurich & New York). Publications include studies by Wilfried Dickoff (Max Hetzler Gallery, Cologne: 1992); Oleg Grabar (Gagosian Gallery, New York: 1994); and Brooks Adams (Vienna Secession: 1996), and Robert Rosenblum (IVAM Valencia: 2000). His work is in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Reina Sofia, Madrid." Also... Philip Taaffe, February 15 - March 31, 2007 at Gagosian Gallery in NYC.

Match Maker

FILE Magazine... Match Maker by Alison Garnett. "...Every diptych creates a memory. Not a history, or an archive but an imaginary narrative, that when combined with the nostalgic quality of Time Zero film – the soft focus and cyan tones – it creates a time and a place and a story that feels real and familiar. My sets are rarely created with a diptych in mind. Rather, it is more of an after thought, a game of match, with a little imagination thrown into the mix. It is a word, a shape and sometimes a religious icon, that bond the two together, hence adding a new level of creative storytelling to the pair. Despite the demise of Time Zero in 2006, as my supply of film diminishes, my love for instant pictures grows ever stronger."

Countdown at Kusini Soundtrack

Countdown at Kusini Soundtrack. "...With a story written by Original Music's John Storm Roberts and starring Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and Greg Morris amongst others the music for this 1976 Blaxpoitation film was composed and performed by Manu Dibango. 'This rare soundtrack was produced in tiny quantities for the premiere of the obscure Ossie Davis movie in Seattle in August 1975. Each album is individually numbered, and signed by the cast. It's a superb blend of African rhythms, jazz, and a heavy dose of space jazz and funk. There are too many good tracks to mention, from uptempo dancefloor cuts to slower mellow numbers, all featuring Manu's superb sax playing.'" From matsuli music. Thank you DMc.

Mighty Meaty

Rudies-Fanatics... Mighty Meaty (1968 FAB 71 .mp3 audio 02:44). Pure slackness!

Boris Savelev

Boris Savelev... Balk (Printed: silvergelatine, platinum, kallitype). From Squares 1972-1992 - b/w photographs by Boris Savelev. "...Boris began his interest in photography in 1963. In 1972, he graduated from the Moscow Aviation University and worked as an engineer. Since 1982, Boris has worked on a freelance basis for publishing houses in the USSR and abroad. Presently, Boris works exclusively on his own projects. He uses various cameras, preferring the Leica M3 with a 50mm lens. Boris prints all his photos himself using traditional and alternative (platinum, gum-bichromate) techniques."

James Dean & Roy Schatt: The Mirrored Psyche - Photographs of and by James Dean

James Dean... Untitled (Martin Landau with Horns) (vintage gelatin silver print). From James Dean & Roy Schatt: The Mirrored Psyche - Photographs of and by James Dean at The Lowe Gallery. "...James Dean was a promising young actor who died too young in 1955 and whose debauched angel's air has helped keep him a cult hero for [over] 30 years now. Roy Schatt, his chronicler, is a theatrical photographer, specializing in portfolio prints of performers who are seeking to convince casting directors of the wide range of human emotions they can mimic. He takes himself very seriously and is perhaps best known for some pouty head-and-shoulder pictures of Dean that he reverently calls 'the torn sweater series.'" Also... Hector Acebes: Portraits in Africa, 1948-1953.

Whistling Willie

Jackie Mittoo... Whistling Willie (.mp3 audio 04:00). Instrumental track off Carol Brown's 12" single - I Won't Hurt Your Feelings (1987, CSA Records 12CSA 513).

Works by Antony Micallef

Antony Micallef... The Devil (oil on canvas). From Works by Antony Micallef. "...Born in Swindon, England and a graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Plymouth, some of Micallef's work illustrates many contemporary cultural aspects and connects them with the human experience. His use of neutral colors and depictions of the human form in a Picasso like manner in his paintings delve beyond pop culture and bring to the surface many of the things that operate underneath the cultural construct. His extensive use of popular culture icons and corporate logos depicted along with the human form bring a very special style to his paintings."

Startling Art!

Dennis Larkins... To Rectify an Ancient Wrong (Mixed Media, Painting on Canvas, 40" X 30"). From Startling Art! - The Out Of This World Artwork Of Dennis Larkins. Also... Dennis Larkins: Point of Contact, February 2-25, 2007 at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. "...A refugee of the Kansas Bible Belt, Dennis Larkins has lived life on the front lines of radical times, emerging from Grateful Dead artist to a chronicler of skewed and alternative realities. Using evocative retro images as universal archetypes brought into the context of the current era, he creates illusionistic, visceral narratives that seem to draw from other dimensions."

Champion Of The Arena

Jackie Mittoo... Champion Of The Arena (.mp3 audio 03:47). From the album The Jackie Mittoo Showcase (1978 Sonic Sounds).

Rough Rider

Prince Buster All Stars... Rough Rider (1968 FAB 40 .mp3 audio 03:26). Produced by Prince Buster. Thank you DMc.

Lantern Slides by T. Takagi

T. Takagi... Kiyomizudera in Kyoto (ca 1910s, transparency, gelatin on glass with applied color). From Lantern Slides by T. Takagi (26 selected images) at the George Eastman House Still Photograph Archive.

Richard Oelze: Paintings & Drawings from the 1950s & 1960s

Richard Oelze: Paintings & Drawings from the 1950s & 1960s, through May 12, 2007 at Ubu Gallery in New York, NY. "...an exhibition of works by a one-time Bauhaus student whose early contact with the works of Dalí, Ernst and Magritte made him one of the few German artists with direct contacts to and affinities with the Paris Surrealists. Oelze’s works capture his belief that the making of art was an act akin to clairvoyance; that the artist was like a blind man, incapable of seeing reality, but capable of prophesy; and that history would certainly confirm these prophecies, which were invariably of a sinister nature." Also... additional Works by Richard Oelze at Ubu.

Miss Frank E. Buttolph American Menu Collection, 1851-1930

Miss Frank E. Buttolph American Menu Collection, 1851-1930 at NYPL Digital. "...The menu collection originated through the energetic efforts of Miss Frank E. Buttolph (1850-1924), a somewhat mysterious and passionate figure, whose mission in life was to collect menus. In 1899, she offered to donate her existing collection to the Library -- and to keep collecting on the Library's behalf. Presciently, director Dr. John Shaw Billings accepted her offer and for the next quarter century Miss Buttolph continued to add to the collection. Her principal method of acquisition was to write to every restaurant she could think of, soliciting menus. When letters failed, she often marched into a restaurant and pleaded her case in person. She also placed advertisements in trade publications like The Caterer and The Hotel Gazette, but just as often, published news of her collection prompted outright contributions of specimens from around the world. Three times between 1904 and 1909, The New York Times wrote about her and the collection, noting once that 'she frankly avers that she does not care two pins for the food lists on her menus, but their historic interest means everything.'"

Looking Hard

Joel Grey... Looking Hard - selected images from the book Looking Hard At Unexamined Things.

Dish It Out

The Contortions... Dish It Out (.mp3 audio 03:17). From the album No New York (1978 Antilles Records).

Tim Davis

Tim Davis... Texaco Eye. From Signage, photographs by Tim Davis. "...Mr. Davis aspires to something of Walker Evans's deadpan gaze, his dry wit and laconic curiosity. His photographs, refusing to propagandize, imply a pity for both left and right, a sense that democracy is a messy business. So is this show. But it also reminds us that the camera, by its nature, can lend a curious grace to whatever it sees, no matter how forlorn or marginal."

Damien Cabanes: This Phrase Is Chosen With Care

Damien Cabanes: This Phrase Is Chosen With Care, February 17 - March 17, 2007 at Mike Weiss Gallery in New York, NY. "...Cabanes’ abstract renderings of the human figure are gestural, expressive and highly spontaneous. His work stylistically recalls that of Outsider Art and Art Brut, and echoes predecessors such as Giacometti and Dubuffet. The sculptures on view, which measure from eight inches to three feet tall, are either left unpainted or are loosely painted in a mixture of colors. Like the sculptures, the canvases depict solitary figures, which are painted against a monochrome background. Cabanes works directly from live models and it is this impact of presence on the artist which imbues the sculptures and paintings with their strong psychological and communicative power. The fact that Cabanes chooses regular, 'everyday' people instead of professional models heightens the emotional impact and ingenuous quality of his art."

Sugar Coated Love

The Watzloves... Sugar Coated Love (.mp3 audio 02:43). "...One Accordion and a Girl with a Hell of a Voice." Silke Toss, DM Bob, and Jakobus.

Please Give Me Something

Bill Allen and The Backbeats... Please Give Me Something (1958 Imperial X5500 .mp3 audio 02:13).

Jan Knap: Obrazy, Kresby a Grafika

Jan Knap: Obrazy, Kresby a Grafika - Paintings, drawings and graphics by Jan Knap at galerie art svìtlana a luboš jelínkovi. (cz)

The Rugged Road to Learning

The Rugged Road to Learning (1921, Ontario Motion Picture Bureau). "...This film advocates the consolidation of rural schools into larger education centers and the use of mass transportation for children attending these new schools. The Rugged Road to Learning dramatizes a day in the life of children who, before consolidation, had to travel through the snowy woods to attend a cold country schoolhouse. Later in the film, a larger, consolidated school encompassing five Ontario country districts is featured favourably. Scenes show happy and lively children who are ready to learn. The use of dramatic scenes to underline a film’s message was a common technique by the 1920s." From the Virtual Silver Screen at the Library and Archives, Canada.

Gilles Berquet and Mirka Lugosi

Gilles Berquet and Mirka Lugosi at Air de Paris. "...Leur goût commun pour les images fétichistes les ont rapprochés et Mïrka est devenue le modèle privilégié de Gilles, photographe. Mïrka a commencé par retoucher les tirages de Gilles, à aquareller et gouacher sa propre image vue par l'oeil du photographe, puis à composer en dessins des scènes d’une sensualité vénéneuse où les frontières entre fantasme et réalité s’interpénètrent."

I Walk The Line

Leonard Nimoy... I Walk The Line (From the album The New World of Leonard Nimoy 1970 Dot Records DLP25966 .mp3 audio 02:18).

Surface Beauty: Photographic Reflections on Glass and China

Albert Renger-Patzsch... Glasses (c.1927 from the book Die Welt ist Schön, gelatin silver photograph). From the exhibition Surface Beauty: Photographic Reflections on Glass and China at The National Gallery of Australia. "...The mysterious qualities of glass are explored by many of the photographers in this exhibition. Glass can seem to mysteriously emit light rather than merely refract and reflect it. Its translucence can make it seem like a substance halfway between the material plane and a spiritual one. Nearly every culture has practised that of scrying, of staring into glass or dark mirrors, crystals or water to tell fortunes, to see what was usually hidden – to speculate comes from the same root as speculum, the Latin word for mirror."

Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930 - The Art of Books

Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930 - The Art of Books. "...All academic libraries have within their holdings books bound in 19th century decorative bindings. These materials are significant in their place within the fabric of American history and culture, but efforts to present these bindings in a collection that is representative of the era as a whole and to make them available virtually, via the World Wide Web have been limited.
PBO, a significant digital collection of decorative bindings, along with a comprehensive glossary and guide to the elements of these objects, will strengthen the growing interest in and create broader awareness for this 'common' object called the book.
Decorative bindings cover many of the books that people have in their homes today, but their owners are often unaware of their cultural and historical significance. These bindings reflect not only social and cultural history, but bibliographic history as well.

The Lovely Road

FILE Magazine... The Lovely Road by Scott Hammond. "...The Lovely Road is a selection of images by photographer Scott Hammond, who specializes in Polaroid photography. Scott captured the images during five years of criss-crossing the country. He explains, 'I travel the country looking for the mundane, the ordinary, the quintessential American moment to record with my Polaroid camera. Why? I’m still not quite sure. I’m conflicted whether I’m recording moments in American life or just moments in my life. Or maybe they’re both, I don’t know. The same way I collect postcards, paper placemats, and brochures, I collect Polaroids of everyday things that I generally find alongside some road in the middle of nowhere. I realize it’s a compulsion. It’s a bizarre need that I feel to collect and preserve what would ordinarily be quickly forgotten.'
The beautiful images presented here are just a small sample of an amazing larger body of work that captures a broad spectrum of the mundane and sublime pleasures of American life."

Drainspotting

Drainspotting. "...Drainspotting is all about paying attention to your surroundings. Manhole covers, drains, grates, trench covers--someone had to design all of these. Functional and ornamental, there's a lot of interesting stuff happening down by your feet."

I Got You (I Feel Good)

James Chance & The Contortions... I Got You (I Feel Good) (.mp3 audio 02:37). From the album The Definitive Story of CBGB - The Home of US Punk. Thank you, BK.

Pretty Boys

Au Pairs... Pretty Boys (BBC Session, Maida Vale Studio, London, October 1980, .mp3 audio 04:01).

Majestic Amateurs: Hungarian Aristocracy and Photography, 1839-2003

Majestic Amateurs: Hungarian Aristocracy and Photography, 1839-2003. "...a comprehensive history of Hungarian photography cannot be complete without detailed analysis of the activity of amateur photographers of aristocratic descent. Almost one and a half thousand photographs taken by photographers of aristocratic origin went on display for the very first time at the Hungarian Museum of Photography in September-October 2006. After closing the show, an album under similar title complete with essays, biographies and pictures has been published by the Museum in January."

Angela West: Sweet Sixteen

Angela West: Sweet Sixteen - Portrait Photographs of Southern Women at Sixteen, February 9 – March 10, 2007 at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, IL. "...In her current show at Carl Hammer, Sweet Sixteen, West backdrops her subjects with vintage wallpapers decorated with roses and gardenias. Using the flowers to an ironic effect, she offers a sharp visual riposte to the romantic associations between young women and the blossoming of delicate, voiceless femininity. West’s portraits tread a fine line between painful, humorous and poignant. Dressed in grown-up gowns and wearing fragile gold jewelry, the teenagers in her Carl Hammer exhibition are all on the borderline between girl and woman. Some are just more convincing than others at masking their discomfort with that transition. The hunched shoulders, arms crossed defensively across bodies and exposed, vulnerable expressions convincingly convey the excruciating self-consciousness of adolescence. But for every frightened rabbit gaze there are the self-possessed beauties who have made peace with their sexuality."

Still On And Non The Wiser: Street Art - Graffiti

Still On And Non The Wiser: Street Art - Graffiti, 11.02.2007 - 06.05.2007 at the Von der Heydt-Museum. "...Schon 1975 sprach der französische Medienphilosoph Jean Baudrillard von Graffiti als 'Aufstand der Zeichen' - als Medium derer, die in postindustriellen Metropolen nur als Konsumenten zählen. Dieser Aufstand ist längst nicht mehr nur Subkultur. Seit ein paar Jahren hat die 'Street Art' und das 'Graffiti' die engen Regeln der HipHop-Kultur hinter sich gelassen. Die Künstler markieren nicht mehr nur ihr Terrain, sie treten in Dialog mit der urbanen Zeichenwelt, verdrehen deren Bedeutungen mit Witz und Verve und machen so politische Kunst im besten Sinne." (de)

Bubble Girls

Tilt... Bubble Girls. From Graffitilt - works by Tilt.

Fujipet Cameras

Fujipet Cameras. "...This site is dedicated to the Fujipet camera, made by Fuji Photo Film Co. from 1957 to 1963. I will mainly be covering the 120 style Fujipet (also nicknamed Thunderbird in Japan) here, but I will try to offer information about other models as I can. The Fujipet is considered a 'toy camera.' It isn't built like a toy camera, as the body is made of plastic and aluminum and is quite sturdy, but most of these cameras sport a plastic lens. It was intended as a starter camera for young people, easy enough that even 'women and children' could use it." I dream of owning one!

Chushingura (A Treasury of Loyal Retainers)

Katsukawa Shunsen... Chushingura: Act 2 (woodblock print). From Chushingura (A Treasury of Loyal Retainers) - Japanese Prints at the Hood Museum of Art. Also... Ando Hiroshige... The Storehouse of Loyalty - Chushingura (1836, Oban yokoye).

Works by Mark Grotjahn

Mark Grotjahn... Untitled, (Color Butterfly 10 Wings) (2004, Color pencil). From Works by Mark Grotjahn at Blum & Poe in Los Angeles, CA.

Discovering Tutankhamun: The Photographs of Harry Burton

Harry Burton... Pair of Horse Blinders. "...This pair of wood horse blinders, overlaid with sheet gold and inlaid with colored glass, depicts the protective udjat, or eyes of Horus, and lotus blossoms. They were found among the dismantled chariots in the Antechamber and formed part of the harnesses and other equipment." From Discovering Tutankhamun: The Photographs of Harry Burton at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Norman Mauskopf: Twenty-Five Years

Norman Mauskopf: Twenty-Five Years at Verve Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, NM. "...During a distinguished twenty-five year photography career Norman Mauskopf has had three award-winning books of his photographs published by Twin Palms/Twelvetrees Press, and has been the recipient of a W. Eugene Smith Fellowship. His most recent book, A Time Not Here, focuses on African-American musical and spiritual traditions in Mississippi and was described as "a focused documentary of astonishing beauty". His second book, Dark Horses, documents the world of thoroughbred horseracing and was described as "classic photojournalism slyly refracted through prisms of drama, majesty and humor." Norman's first book, Rodeo, looks into the lives of professional rodeo cowboys. About the images in Rodeo author Ben Maddow wrote, 'they are not merely photographs but observations deeply seen and deeply felt... Mauskopf has uncovered something profound and instinctive.' A forthcoming book will focus on the Latino culture of northern New Mexico and will include an original text by poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. Norman has also completed a rare documentary in the legal brothels of Mustang, Nevada."

El Córazon de Nuevo México

Red and Green Peñasco Trastero (c.1920s-1930s, Pine with red and green paint, 62 x 32 x 16 inches). From El Córazon de Nuevo México - The Heart of New Mexico at Owings Dewey Fine Art in Santa Fe, NM.

Hiraki Sawa

Hiraki Sawa... Dwelling (2002, RealVideo 01:58). More Works by Hiraki Sawa.

Where We Are Going

Owen Gray... Where We Are Going (.mp3 audio 04:19). Thank you, DMc.

Tom D. + Melissa Duimstra: Grand Visions From Grand Rapids

Melissa Duimstra... Vintage Barbies (mixed media on masonite). From the exhibition Tom D. + Melissa Duimstra: Grand Visions From Grand Rapids at Garde Rail Gallery in Seattle, WA. "...Tom D's first show was with Howard Finster in the early 1980's and his whimsical paintings on wood have been favorites of folk art collectors ever since. Over the last couple of years, Tom's wife Melissa Arpin Duimstra has begun to come into her own. Tom and Melissa have also been collaborating, and this recent work has been very popular with collectors, new and old alike."

Alexey Tikhonov

Alexey Tikhonov... Marika Tamash. Dancer (2006, for Sobaka.ru magazine). From Portraits by Works by Alexey Tikhonov.

L'étrange Musée Llonovoy

L'étrange Musée Llonovoy. "...Exposition itinérante de jouets 'détraqués' ! Plus de 370 pièces uniques habilement fabriquées par Miquel Àngel Juan à base d'éléments récupérés et de jouets cassés. Le site du 'musée' permet même d'assembler son propre jouet 'détraqué' virtuel." (fr) Via LeWUB.

White Belly Rat

Lee 'Scratch' Perry... White Belly Rat (1976 BlackArt ART2 .mp3 audio 04:21). Backed by The Upsetters, recorded at LSP's Black Ark Studio.

Terrifying Girls' High School: Delinquent Convulsion Group

Terrifying Girls' High School: Delinquent Convulsion Group (Kyofu Joshi Koko – Furyo Monzetsu Guruupu, 1973, directed by Masahiro Shimura). From Panik House's Pinky Violence. "...What is Pinky Violence? It's a line of sexy, action-exploitation thrillers begun in the late sixties in Japan. These films featured female yakuzas and girl boss guerillas duking it out for their freedom, their pride and their own piece of the pie. This electrifying genre mixed titillation with social commentary, predating its closest American and European counterparts by several years. These groundbreaking films continue to influence some of cinema's most celebrated directors, like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Takashi Miike."

Wake Up In the Sunshine

Solomon Jones... Wake Up In the Sunshine (1970, Bullet BU 452, produced by Derrick Morgan, .mp3 audio 02:53). From Some Ultra-Rare Jamaican MP3s at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

Henry Wessel: Early Photographs

Henry Wessel: Early Photographs, January 18 - February 24, 2007 at Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco, CA. "...For over thirty years Henry Wessel (b. 1942) has lived, worked and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area. He started experimenting with photography in the early 60's while still a student at Pennsylvania State University. By 1968, Wessel was taking photographs while traveling the country. A 1971 grant from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to document the 'U.S. highways and the adjacent landscape' focused Wessel's subject matter on man-made environments, sometimes populated, and sometimes not. What might be ordinary moments and places (almost empty deserts, fatigued split level houses, cinderblock motels, people caught in personal reverie, parking lots, odd shaped bushes and trees) become exceptional from Wessel's vantage. Crafted with formal perfection, a pretense of seriousness, and gentle sympathy, Wessel's photographs illuminte and freeze a glimpse of American life."

I'm The Ruler

Derrick Morgan... I'm The Ruler (1968 Pyramid PYR 6029 .mp3 audio 02:33). Backed by Lynn Taitt & The Jets - the finest rock steady band ever, IMHO.

Jamaican Label Art & Related Ephemera

Jamaican Label Art & Related Ephemera. "...J.L.A. is a website for those people who are obsessed with Caribbean music and the artwork and design of the labels on the vinyl reproductions of that music. It doesn't matter if those labels are on recordings of Jamaican music released in the U.S.A., or indeed Trini Calypso released in the U.K. It's all the same to us! We don't intend the site to be an exhaustive discography of single releases, there are plenty of those to be bought from the bookseller or found for free on the Net. Instead we both thought it was about time for an online version of a coffee table book; glossy and thin on information but thick on indulgence.
In short pure eye candy, nothing more. There are enough weighty tomes available to the serious collector, so go make yourself a long cool cocktail and treat yourself to some pure pleasure."

You're Wondering Now

Andy & Joey... You're Wondering Now (.mp3 audio 02:11). Early Studio One ska by Rueben Anderson and Joanne Dennis - Andy & Joey.

Works on Paper

Kim Jones... Untitled (1984-2004-2005, B/W photograph, acrylic and ink). From the exhibitions Works On Paper, January 17 - February 17, 2007 at Zeno X Gallery and Zeno X Storage in Antwerp, Belgium.

Endangered Machinery

Endangered Machinery - the industrial and industrial heritage photography of Haiko Hebig.

Roger Ballen: Shadow Chamber

Roger Ballen... Roar (2002). From Roger Ballen: Shadow Chamber at the Richelieu Galerie de photographie of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. "...Since publication of his third book Platteland, Images from Rural South Africa in 1994, Roger Ballen, South-African photographer of American origin has enjoyed international fame. His work goes beyond the documentary, which is the viewpoint it seemed to adopt at first, to take on a style of its own, disturbing and enigmatic, outside of fashions. His notion of photography leads to an exploration of the innermost of the soul, the representation of 'a dark place, strange and ambiguous as well as funny. [...] a place that everyone could identify, without being able to precisely locate it'. A deeply tensed camera acting between the tragic vision and the fleeting moment, the document of staging, the contingent and the pathetic, place of presence or obliteration which equivalent is only found in the texts of Samuel Beckett or certain paintings of Francis Bacon." Also... more Works by Roger Ballen at his personal site.

Wild Guitar

Arch Hall Jr. & The Archers... Wild Guitar (.mp3 audio 01:55).

NOW and THEN: Maggie Taylor

Maggie Taylor... Boys With Thinking Caps. From NOW and THEN: Maggie Taylor at Zone Zero. "...For more than eight years now I have been using a flatbed scanner instead of a traditional camera to record and interpret the objects I collect. I frequent flea markets and search on Ebay for old tintypes and toys that seem to have a story to tell. Then in my studio I make small pastel drawings as backgrounds and scan each element into my computer separately. Using Photoshop I am able to arrange and play with these layers in much the same way that I worked with objects in my studio for a still life photograph. I work very spontaneously and intuitively, trying to come up with images that have a resonance and a somewhat mysterious narrative content. There is no one meaning for any of the images, rather they exist as a kind of visual riddle or open-ended poem, meant to be both playful and provocative."

Portraits Of Violence: The Gangs of Port Moresby and Suicide Bombers in Gaza

Portraits Of Violence: The Gangs of Port Moresby and Suicide Bombers in Gaza by Stephen Dupont and Kristen Ashburn (Digital Journalist, February 2007). "...People generally perceive courage in a photographer in relation to dangerous situations, to being under fire. But these images by two intrepid photographers were at least equally 'dangerous' to make. Not only because both sets were produced in hostile environments, but because to look straight into the eye of one contemplating murder and mayhem, to attempt to communicate with the excommunicated, as it were, is inherently risky. 'If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough,' Robert Capa once said. Dupont and Ashburn get close. They get inside. And to confront this type of grief, anger, despair, or pain takes, I feel, as much bravery as situations where violence is acted out."

Life in Death

Lens Culture... Life in Death, text and photographs by Eva Persson. "...Death is a village in Finland. I saw it for the first time during a working trip through the back window of the taxi I was in. As the taxi driver drove into the courtyard of a small shop and exclaimed, 'Welcome to Death!' I thought to myself: only in Finland can a village be called Death (in Finnish, Kuolema). For me, it’s this relationship to death that separates the Swedes from the Finns. In Finland, you are born, then comes a long period of suffering, and then you die. In Sweden, you are born, everything is Jätte bra! (very good) and then you disappear. Like to Spain." More Works by Eva Persson at her personal site.

Brixton Cat

Dice the Boss (Joe's All Stars)... Brixton Cat (1969, Duke/Joe DU-50A, produced by Joe Mansano .mp3 audio 02:38).

Joe Mansano

Joe Mansano at Trojan Records. "...After moving to London from his native Trinidad in 1963, Joe Mansano soon made his mark as one of the UK’s leading West Indian music salesmen. By 1968, such was his reputation that he was head-hunted by Trojan to run a store on their behalf and over the years that followed, his Joe’s Records shop in Brixton became the place to buy reggae music in the capital.
A move into record production seemed a natural progression and Joe quickly proved as adept at making music as he was at selling it, creating some of the most sought-after UK Reggae records from the Skinhead era, issued on Trojan’s Blue Cat, Duke and Joe subsidiaries.
Trojan’s demise in the mid-seventies brought about the closure of the shop and in 1980, Joe returned to Trinidad, where he has since resided."

People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz - Boots!

UbuWeb... People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz - Boots! (2006). "...These recordings document a collaborative research and development process between People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz culminating in a live performance using vintage turntables and vinyl dubplates, a CDr album ('Boots!'), a 10" vinyl record ('Honeysuckle Boulevard'), and a CD album ('Perpetuum Mobile'). Using the internet and file sharing as our primary means of communication and collaboration, we experimented and explored our collaborative practices over a period of almost a year. The files available here constitute the research sketches, the CDr, and the live performance. We would encourage others to use the dubplate files to create new juxtapositions and recontextualisations."

Crying, Waiting, Hoping

The Beatles... Crying, Waiting, Hoping (.mp3 audio 02:09). From the album Live At The BBC, the B's do a nice cover of one of Buddy Holly's greatest songs.

Femme Fatale

Big Star... Femme Fatale (.mp3 audio 03:30). From Third/Sister Lovers, Recorded in 1974 at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN.

Works by Kim Keever

Works by Kim Keever, January 12 - March 10, 2007 at Kinz, Tillou and Feigen. "...Kim Keever's large-scale photographs of painterly landscapes invoke a sense of the sublime reminiscent of the Hudson River School and 19th Century Romanticism. In actuality, Keever creates his timeless worlds by carefully constructing small-scale topographies in a 100 gallon glass tank, which he then fills with water, disperses liquid pigments and lights with colored gels to achieve the ephemeral atmospheric conditions that enliven his work. They are fully fabricated illusions that conjure the realms of our imagination. These conceptually contrived works address the psychology of the picturesque and our perception of the unaltered landscape and the natural world." Also... More.

Todd Hido: Between the Two

Todd Hido: Between the Two at Stephen Wirtz Gallery. "...Known for assessing well-worn dwellings and landscapes, most specifically of the suburban and lackluster, Hido’s new work deals exclusively in the realm of the interior, both physical and personal. Hido pauses on the subtle interiority that manifests itself visually, providing select views into transient-styled bedrooms, kitchens, and dining rooms and untreated individuals posed in hotel rooms. Once intimate, now vacant rooms match portraits of complex individuals that maintain the same vacant feel as the articles left to degrade in the backdrop.
Between the Two, newly situates Hido within the Portrait genre, weaving evocative nudes of anonymous models together with equally emotive, intimate environments. The combination of the two form 'paper movies' —arrangements of images that create unfastened narratives. Scenes are sometimes tied together through formal criteria, such as light, or a particular tonal palette, and sometimes through imagined stories and characters that seem to inhabit the pages themselves."

Dogs of War

PES... Dogs of War (QuickTime Video 00:45). From EatPES - Home of the twisted films of PES.

Yukiyukite Shingun

Okuzaki Kenzo in a clip from Yukiyukite Shingun (The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, 1986, directed by Hara Kazuo, Flash Video 08:23). (jp)

Guess I'm Falling In Love

The A-Bones... Guess I'm Falling In Love (Bedrock Records, 1993, BED 001 .mp3 audio 03:18).

Tony Fitzpatrick: The Life

Tony Fitzpatrick: The Life at Pierogi 2000 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "...The Life is a new chapter in Tony Fitzpatrick’s drawing-collage series, The Wonder: A Portrait of Chicago. The Life is a somewhat darker chapter; some of the stories are real, some are imagined. The stories portrayed in this new group of works involve monsters, call girls and gamblers. The works included in the first two series tended to be on the dreamy side, while this third group has monsters, madness and vice — 'the stuff they don’t put in the travel brochures' according to Fitzpatrick."

Seydou Keita and Lolo Veleko: Fashion

Seydou Keita and Lolo Veleko: Fashion, January 19 - February 24, 2007 at Danziger Projects. "...This exhibition pairs two outstanding African photographers of different generations. The photographers - Seydou Keita and Lolo Veleko - are linked both by the control evident in their work and the pleasure they take in observing their subject's personal style.
Seydou Keita was a self-taught photographer. He opened a portrait studio in Bamako, Mali in 1950 from where he produced extraordinarily life-affirming portraits of local Malawians. Unknown to the west until his discovery by Andre Magnin in the 1990s, Keita went on to become internationally acclaimed, exhibiting at museums around the world. Keita died in 2001 at the age of 80.
Lolo Veleko, a 29 year old South African, came to attention in ICP's 2006 exhibition 'Snap Judgments' - a show of contemporary African photography. In Veleko's ongoing series 'Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder' her photographs capture the street fashion of today's Johannesburg youth in small but vibrant full length color portraits.

Works by Sergio Prego

Sergio Prego... 10 to 0 Degrees (exerpt) ( 2006, single-channel video, Edition of 8, QuickTime Video). An allusion to Andrei Tarkovsky's Solyaris which features a long sequence along a futuristic highway (actually shot in Osaka). From Works by Sergio Prego at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in New York, NY.

Fa Cé-la

The Feelies... Fa Cé-la (.mp3 audio 02:01).

Henry Wessel

Henry Wessel... No. 90467 (1990 chromogenic print). From the series Real Estate Images. From Works by Henry Wessel at Charles Cowles Gallery in New York, NY.

Works by Gu Xiong

Gu Xiong... Pepsi Home (2005, c-print, edition 1/5, 42 x 62 inches). From Works by Gu Xiong at Diane Farris Gallery. "...Gu Xiong is a multimedia artist and photographer originally from Chongquing, Sichuan in the People's Republic of China. In 1972, during the Cultural Revolution, Gu Xiong was sent to the remote countryside. With millions of other youths, he was forced into 're-education' with peasant teachers. He laboured in the fields under extremely primitive conditions for four years. By the light of a kerosene lantern, he started to draw the people and objects around him. Drawing became an obsession and gave him strength. After being allowed to return to the city, he earned a BFA and MFA at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute where he also taught traditional woodcut printmaking. His first link with Canada came in 1986 when he was invited to take part in an exchange program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. In 1989, Gu Xiong finally had to flee China as a result of his participation in Beijing's China/Avant Garde show and in the Tiananmen Square demonstration."

Works by Franz Vesolt

Works by Franz Vesolt.